A Reluctant Welcome for Jewish People: Voices in Le Devoir's Editorials, 1910-1947(Canadian Studies)

Noted historian Pierre Anctil takes a deep dive into editorials devoted to Jews and Judaism in Quebec’s daily Le Devoir in the first half of the twentieth century. Long one of the most discussed historiographical issues in Canadian Jewish history, these editorials are of great significance as they are representative of the reaction of the nationalist Francophone elite to the Jewish presence in Montreal, to German Nazi State anti-Semitism and to the Shoah. Pierre Anctil proposes a new reading of the editorials published in the pages of Le Devoir from 1910 to 1947—from the founding of the newspaper by Henri Bourassa until the death of its second director, Georges Pelletier. During that time, some two hundred editorials were devoted to Jews and Judaism, of which Anctil has selected sixty for inclusion in this volume. Although many of the editorials conveyed the clearly anti-Semitic views of Le Devoir’s editorialists and of Quebec society at large, a number of the editorials did express positive views of Jewish activities and accomplishments in Quebec society. Readers will find this to be an in-depth analysis and nuanced treatment of an important aspect of Canadian Jewish history. Published in English, translated from the original "À chacun ses juifs".

Table of Contents:
Translator’s Note Preface Introduction IMMIGRATION TO CANADA (1913–1930) 1. The Perils of Immigration 2. The Gazette and Immigration 3. We Pay Attention Finally, But Very Late… JEWISH IMMIGRATION TO CANADA (1910–1929) 4. An Anti-national Policy 5. What Is Most Important 6. Twenty Years Too Many JEWISH IMMIGRATION TO CANADA (1933–1943) 7. Mr. Jacobs Also… 8. A New Jewish Immigration? 9. Is Canada Building a Tower of Babel? 10. Post-war Problems and Decline in Anglo-Saxon Birth Rate 11. The Problem of Immigration and Anti-Quebec Animosity? NAZI GERMANY (1933–1937) 12. As Dispatches Keep Arriving … 13. Events in Germany 14. The Pope and Germany 15. In Hitler’s Germany ANTI-SEMITISM IN EUROPE (1937–1938) 16. Anti-Semitism, a Growing Danger 17. Anti-Semitism in Central Europe 18. The Astonishment of Mr. Glass, Member from Toronto of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, and Organizer of the Jewish Boycott of German Merchandise KRISTALLNACHT (1938) 19. Demonstrations Against Hitler 20. The Enduring Question of Jewish Refugees 21. In the Case of the German Jews, the Star Talks Nonsense 22. To Everyone Their Own Jews THE HOLOCAUST (1943–1945) 23. We Have Our Own Victims and Refugees of the War 24. A Judeo-American Brief at the Quebec Conference 25. The Campaign to Admit Refugees to Canada 26. Inhumane Dictatorships ANTI-SEMITISM IN CANADA (1931–1933) 27. Lessons and Reflections 28. Only to Satisfy Mr. Bercovitch? No 29. The Brawls in Toronto LE DEVOIR AND THE CANADIAN JEWISH CONGRESS (1934) 30. The Status of the Jewish Documents — The Responsibility of the Canadian Jewish Congress 31. The Father of Yellow Journalism Was the Jew Joseph Pulitzer 32. The Advertising Boycott and Jews “BUY FROM YOUR OWN” (1934–1939) 33. Mr. Joseph Cohen and the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste 34. Life Is in Disarray 35. We Need to Be Logical: Label the Merchant Just Like the Merchandise THE “DETRIMENTAL” INFLUENCE OF JEWS IN MONTREAL (1926–1936) 36. A New “Scheme”: Fairgrounds in Parc Maisonneuve 37. If That Is “French Art” 38. Cheating Does Return to Haunt Its Master — With Double Consequences THE JEWS AND MONTREAL SCHOOLS (1914–1930) 39. Jews and Protestants at the Dissentient School Board 40. Montreal Schools 41. Under the Government’s Thumb 42. Why Not a Postponement? OBSERVANCE OF SUNDAY (1933–1934) 43. The Observance of Sunday 44. Dotting the I’s THE SUCCESS OF JEWS IN MONTREAL (1930–1946) 45. Do Not Blame the Jews: Imitate Them 46. The Saint-Denis Speeches 47. The Jews as a Model 48. The Jews as a Model 49. The Fédération des OEuvres de Charité Must Exceed Its Goal PUBLIC HEALTH IN MONTREAL (1925–1927) 50. Why Our Children Are Dying 51. Infant Mortality among Jews and among Christians PERSECUTION OF JEWS, PERSECUTION OF CATHOLICS (1929–1933) 52. Silence on Mexico, Protests for Palestine 53. The Attention Paid to Spanish Catholics and to Jews PALESTINE UNDER THE BRITISH MANDATE (1929–1930) 54. On Top of a Powder Keg 55. From Bombay to Jerusalem 56. The Palestine Question A NATIONAL HOME FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE IN PALESTINE (1937–1939) 57. Jews, Arabs and the English 58. The Protestant Pastors of Lachine and Mr. Neville Chamberlain 59. “We Should Tend to Our Own Affairs!” 60. The Palestine Question Appendix 1 — List of editorials in Le Devoir on Jewish subjects, 1910–1947 Appendix 2 — List of editorialists who wrote on the subject of Judaism on Le Devoir’s pages and the Jewish presence in Canada, 1910–1947 Bibliography

About the Author :
Pierre Anctil is an award-winning author, a member of the Royal Society of Canada since 2012 and a professor emeritus at the University of Ottawa, where he taught contemporary Canadian history and Canadian Jewish history. He has written at length on the history of Montreal’s Jewish community and on the current debates on cultural pluralism in Canada. His most recent English-language titles are History of the Jews in Quebec (2021), Jacob Isaac Segal: A Montreal Yiddish Poet and His Milieu (2017) and A Reluctant Welcome for Jewish People: Voices in Le Devoir’s Editorials, 1910–1947 (2019), all at the University of Ottawa Press.